The MER program consists of 33 credit hours of course work as specified in Table I. These include 27 credit hours of compulsory courses and 6 credit hours of elective courses. The compulsory courses are comprised of 18 credit hours of core courses specified in Table II and 9 credit hours for a research seminar.

The compulsory core courses introduce students to the three main areas of study in the program: labour-management relations; human resources management; and labour market and social policy analysis.

Electives allow students to specialize in one or more of the three main areas of study. Electives must be chosen from the list of approved electives specified in Table III. Other courses may be approved and added to Table III from time to time by the GCER.

Candidates are responsible for fulfilling all pre-requisites and may require special permission from the Department offering an elective to enrol in the course.

The Research Seminar in Employment Relations provides students with both quantitative and qualitative research skills and requires the identification of a research problem, the development and execution of a methodology appropriate to addressing the problem, analysis of results, and completion of final report. The Research Seminar involves 3 credit hours of course work in each of the Fall, Winter and Spring semesters.

Candidates enrolled in Research Seminar in Employment Relations will normally have completed an introductory course in statistics. If candidates' records suggest a deficiency in statistics, the GCER reserves the right to require that they complete a foundation course in statistics as part of, and to be completed during, their program.

The prerequisites for EMRE 6030 are EMRE 6010 and EMRE 6020. In addition, students will normally complete six MER courses before registering for EMRE 6030. There are no prerequisites for EMRE 6010 and EMRE 6020 but students are advised to take these courses late in their programs, just before taking EMRE 6030. For the core courses, the prerequisite for BUSI 9329 is BUSI 8210. For the remaining core courses, there are no prerequisites. For the elective courses, departmental regulations that specify particular courses as prerequisites will apply but the departmental requirement to have completed a number of courses will not apply.

A waiver of a core course may be granted by the Dean of Graduate Studies on the recommendation of the GCER if the candidate can demonstrate that the material in the course has been substantially covered by other courses taken at this or another recognized university. In such cases, the course must be replaced by another course offered by Memorial University of Newfoundland in consultation with the candidate, and approved by the GCER. The maximum number of core courses that can be waived is 3 and all replacement courses must be taken during the candidate's period of enrollment in the program.

Each student's program of study must be approved by the GCER. The GCER reserves the right to restrict candidates from taking particular courses if it is deemed that those courses do not add sufficient value beyond courses that the candidate has completed at the undergraduate level.